Dear Editor,
I refer to your publication of Tuesday, November 16, where the front page picture displays the demolition of the structure on High Street opposite the Parliament Building.
Over the last few years, the building which was unoccupied, fought a losing battle with the ravages of time, the weather and the vagrants. However, this building had a colourful and interesting past which cannot be erased from the annals of history.
On June 20, 1941, due to the exigencies of World War II, Atkinson Field (now CJIA) was commissioned as a weather station and a US military facility, under a lease arrangement with the British government.
At the end of the war in 1945, military activity was scaled down and the airport was made available to commercial traffic on October 1, 1946.
During the war years, Mackenzie Airport, with its 5000 foot paved runway was utilized for commercial flights. The airport terminal building was the same structure which was shown being demolished on the front page of the November 16 edition.
It was subsequently dismantled at Mackenzie, transported to Georgetown and re-assembled opposite the Parliament Building.
The two attached photographs show (1) the building in use as the Mackenzie terminal in early 1946. Note the British West Indies Airways (now Caribbean Airlines) Hudson aircraft and the British Guiana Airways (before Guyana Airways) Grumman Goose aircraft on the tarmac in front of the terminal; (2) the same building at its other location in Georgetown enjoying better times in the capital. Note the control tower on top of the building.
Yours faithfully,
Lloyd H Marshall
